The Impact of the Car in Australian Planning - Essay Example

The Impact of The Car In Australian Planning Name Institution Tutor Date Introduction The Australia’s urban planning department has a great role to ensure that there is sustainability in all cities in Australia. Australia is regarded as one of the most modernized country in the world. There is extreme population growth in various Australian cities which creates pressure on its transportation network. Australian planning is conducted at every level of the government. In most cases the Federal government is involved in setting of policies that govern the cities. Despite the policy formulation, increase in car ownership has greatly impacted urban planning in Australia. Over the period of 20th century, there has been significant development in car ownership in Australia. The primary point of debate is on the effects of car ownership in Australian urban planning. This paper accesses the impacts of car ownership in Australian Urban planning. Transport infrastructure increasingly shapes Australian cities. Growth and development in urban centres indicates their resources, geography, technology and past innovations. As the Australian cities evolve, they are fashioned by the enduring heritage of infrastructure and transport networks constructed in the past. After the World War II, Australian urban planning focused on the improvement of its urban centres such as Sydney (Meyer, nd). The planning was focused on improving suburban and improvement in infrastructure. The urban planning was however destabilized by the increasing number of personal cars since 1950s. Since 1955 to 2013, there has been increased registration of passenger vehicles in Australia. The number increased from 1.6 million to 15 million, indicating an annual growth of 5%. In the year 1955, there existed only one hundred and fifty three vehicles per one thousand individuals. However, by the end of 2013, the rate had sky rocketed to five hundred and sixty eight per one thousand persons (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2013). The growth of cars and use of private cars led to remarkable change in the planning, funding and managing of urban systems. The same problem is experienced by several developed countries. The philosophy in Australia is that urban planning should channelled towards users convenience. Thus, all development should be done to satisfy the desires of the urban residence, economic operation of various businesses in town and that individuals can travel without chronic car congestion in towns. According to Harrison, (2012, p, 83) having more roads simply means having more cars. This means that congestion increases and more planning is required. Rapid urbanization of Australia called for proper and adequate planning to help the country overcome traffic congestion in its major towns. Early urban planners were focused on orderly planning of the cities and instituting various urban reforms. Cars leads to several negative impacts in the urban centres which planners need to take into consideration. Australia cities were congested before car congestion becomes a menace in the region; however, the problem has been compounded by the massive increase in motor vehicle in the country. The increasing number of cars poses a major challenge to planners (Meyer, nd). Automobile congestion in the Australian cities leads to extreme air pollution. High number of cars in the urban centres has offered a new dimension of environmental pollution Environmental pollution makes it difficult for the planners to find new ways of dealing with the problem. Exhausts from cars and automobiles contribute to half of the atmospheric pollution in large urban centres in Australia. Exhaust fumes from cars contains several polluting substances encompassing carbons dioxide and several complex hydrocarbons. Efforts to minimize automobile pollution can be achieved through development of carbon free engines which helps in elimination of more adverse air pollution problem. Air pollution has been a great challenge to Australian urban planning. High level of toxic substances in the atmosphere makes it difficult for planners to come up with accurate measure which can help curb the menace, given that cars ownership in the country in increasing at a faster rate (Stanley, et al, 2009). Another problem posed by the high number of cars in Australian urban centres is the increasing accidents in the towns. Accidents lead to injuries and death in the urban centres. Every year, there are thousands of car accidents in Australia. Economic and social costs of such accidents are massive. Efforts to improve highway safety in Australia have been successful, however, the problem becomes difficult to control and manage due to increasing number of cars in urban centres making the highways to conges leading to accident. Australian planners find it difficult to account for all accidents that occur in the urban centres. They fail to offer accurate measures due to high number of cars in the urban centres. One measure instituted by the Australian government in 1996 was that, all cars and automobiles to possess safety features like seatbelts. All new cars in Australia by early 1990 had been fitted by air bags or seatbelt (Fotheringham, 2008). The planners also passed a law that all vehicles should move at a maximum speed of 55 miles per hour. According to department of transportation in the country, the low speed saved close to 18,000 lives. However, the speed limit was opposed by others claiming that it posed personal and economic hardship ion individuals who had to travel for longer distances. As a result, the speed limit was raised to 65 miles per hour and even 75 miles per hour in some high ways. However, this could not help fully solve the problem of accidents in urban centres. Planners are still challenged on how to come up with effective method which can help in curbing accidents in the region. The problem is likely to increase in the near future due to increasing number of new cars in Australian towns (Fotheringham, 2008). The other problem caused by increasing number of cars in Australia is noise. Vehicles impact the environment by causing extreme noise. In Australian urban environments, road traffic is the most critical course of noise. Noise come from hooting cars, ambulances and other sources. This creates a lot of problems to Australian planners. Noise leads to disturbance in working environments, affects sleep, and relaxation, mental stress and extreme cases leads to physical problems like chronic exhaustion, heart disease and high blood pressure. Noise from cars increases with the speed and size of the car. Noise level is also influenced by car maintenance, car and tyre design. Australian planners attempt to provide measures to curb noise pollution but are often limited by increasing number of cars in urban centres (Garget and Gafney, 2015). Consequently, cars impacts quality of water due to oil and various particles washed into the rivers and creeks. In Australian urban centres, run-off from roads is directed into storm water drains. Water is then polluted by oil which is regarded as a harmful water pollutant. Water can be severely polluted by small amount of oil. Oil is often harmful to aquatic life and other living organism in water (Byrne et al., 2014). Planners find it difficult to develop adequate measures due to increasing number of cars in the towns. High number of cars leads to high level of oil which in turn pollutes water. Moreover, other particles from brakes, wear and tyres and other components are often washed into storm water polluting water ways. During rainy seasons, air pollution from vehicles mixes with rainwater and falls to the ground leading to water pollution (Garget and Gafney, 2015). This cause a great challenge to planners, they need to establish various measures which can help reduce water pollution in Australian urban centre, this is not possible due to high number of cars in the region. The problem is likely to increasing due to high number of new cars getting into the Australian urban centres yearly. Exhaust gases from cars also leads to ozone layer depletion. Australian government has since burnt the production and importation of Chlorofluorocarbons which is known to be a primary ozone depleting material. The substance was mainly used in making cars air conditioners. In their place, hydroflourocarbons and hydrocarbons which do not deplete the ozone layer have been used in making air conditioners. However, some substances possess greenhouse effect. However, with the increase in the number of cars in Australia, some cars have air conditioner made of chlorofluorocarbons which depletes the ozone layer. Ozone layer acts as a blanket which protects life by absorbing ultraviolet rays from the sun. Such radiation leads to skin cancer, suppresses immune system and lowers productivity of agricultural crops (Tord et al., 2002). Finally, vehicles produce greenhouse gases that lead to climatic change and global warming. The primary greenhouse gas is carbon dioxide. Other gases include methane and nitrous oxide. In Melbourne, passenger vehicle contributes to ten percent of total greenhouse gas emanation. There are several strategies planners use to curd emission of greenhouse gas into the atmospheres. However they are face with the challenge of increasing cars in towns. This makes them to change their strategies and find other ways and techniques of addressing g the problem (Stanley, et al, 2009). In conclusion, it is evident than cars heave diverse effects on the planning of Australia. There is increasing number of cars in Australia leading to several problems in Australian towns, the problems range from air pollution, ozone depletion, water contamination to climatic change and global warming. Planners need to develop new techniques which they can use in their planning process in Australia; they should institute such strategies which consider high influx of cars in the Australian towns. This is the only way of creating a sustainable urban environment free from pollution or contamination. References Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2013). Australian Social Trends. ABS. Byrne, J, Sipe, N, and Dodson J. (2014) Australian Environmental Planning: Challenges and Future Prospects. New York. Routledge Fotheringham, A., Symmons M. and Corben B. (2008). The Impact of Lowered Speed Limits In Urban/Metropolitan Areas. Transport Accident Commission. Retrieved From Garget D. And Gafney J. (2015). Trafic growth in Australian cities: causes, prevention and cure. http://www.environment.gov.au/system/files/pages/893c47f3-d5db-4d1a-8364- 817e32e7fe40/files/hs76trafficgrowthinaustraliancities.pdf. Harrison, M. D. (2012). The problem of road congestion: the fultility of 'avoidable cost' estimates. Agenda: a journal of policy analysis and reform, 19 (2), 77-86. http://ro.uow.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1884&context=aiimpapers Meyer, B.(nd) . Future Sydney - A City Of Cities. UWS. Stanley, J, Hensher, D, and Loader, C.(2009). Road transport and climate change: Stepping off the greenhouse gas. I T L S . Tord, K, Neller A. and Simpson, R. W. (2002). Air pollution and its health impacts: the changing panorama. The commonwealth fund. 177 (11): 604-608. Read More